The Vanity of Pleasure(A)

I said (B)in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with (C)mirth; [a]therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, (D)this also was vanity. I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” (E)I searched in my heart how [b]to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was (F)good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

I made my works great, I built myself (G)houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to [c]water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had [d]servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. (H)I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and [e]musical instruments of all kinds.

(I)So I became great and [f]excelled (J)more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And (K)this was my [g]reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was (L)vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.

The End of the Wise and the Fool

12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom (M)and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already (N)done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom (O)excels folly
As light excels darkness.
14 (P)The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That (Q)the same event happens to them all.

15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”
16 For there is (R)no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because (S)I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his [h]heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 (T)For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are (U)sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 (V)Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, [i]more than I? 26 For God gives (W)wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that (X)he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:1 gladness
  2. Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit. to draw my flesh
  3. Ecclesiastes 2:6 irrigate
  4. Ecclesiastes 2:7 Lit. sons of my house
  5. Ecclesiastes 2:8 Exact meaning unknown
  6. Ecclesiastes 2:9 Lit. increased
  7. Ecclesiastes 2:10 Lit. portion
  8. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Lit. portion
  9. Ecclesiastes 2:25 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr. without Him

The Soldiers Mock Jesus(A)

19 So then (B)Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. [a]Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they (C)struck Him with their hands.

Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, (D)that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Pilate’s Decision

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”

(E)Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!

Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.”

The Jews answered him, (F)“We have a law, and according to [b]our law He ought to die, because (G)He made Himself the Son of God.”

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” (H)But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have [c]power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

11 Jesus answered, (I)“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore (J)the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. (K)Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

13 (L)When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now (M)it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, (N)“We have no king but Caesar!”

16 (O)Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus [d]and led Him away.

The King on a Cross(P)

17 (Q)And He, bearing His cross, (R)went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified Him, and (S)two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 19 (T)Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” ’ ”

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 (U)Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

(V)“They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

Behold Your Mother

25 (W)Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of (X)Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and (Y)the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, (Z)“Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her (AA)to his own home.

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Footnotes

  1. John 19:3 NU And they came up to Him and said
  2. John 19:7 NU the law
  3. John 19:10 authority
  4. John 19:16 NU omits and led Him away

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